Municipal bond traders will be eyeing yields on Friday, as they prepare for the upcoming abbreviated trading week.
Secondary Market
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 1.25% from 1.27% on Wednesday as the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 2.58% from 2.59%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 3.16% from 3.15%.
Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Thursday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was 11 basis points higher to 2.48% from 2.37% on Wednesday, while the yield on the 30-year increased five basis points to 3.21% from 3.16%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 96.3% compared to 94.0% on Wednesday while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 102.2% versus 100.3%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 55,758 trades on Thursday on volume of $17.11 billion.
Primary Market
Traders saw a rather light slate of new issue come to market during a week when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 1/4 point.
Barclays Capital priced the Chicago Board of Education's $729.58 million of dedicated capital improvement tax bonds. The bonds are rated A by Fitch Ratings and BBB by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
"CPS successfully sold today $729 million of A-rated Capital Improvement Tax bonds with proceeds from these dedicated capital bonds going towards much-needed capital investments like relieving overcrowding, modernizing schools and making critical repairs," Ron DeNard, CPS' senior vice president of finance, said in a statement on Thursday.
CPS said the credit sold over 200 basis points tighter than the district's February GO bond offering, with 45 investors participating in the sale.
Morgan Stanley priced the Pennsylvania Higher Educational Facilities Authority's $178.59 million of Series 2017A revenue bonds as trustee for the University of Pennsylvania. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus by S&P Global Ratings.
Piper Jaffray riced the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, Ala.'s $152.13 million of Series 2016 school tax warrants. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Citigroup priced the New York State Housing Finance Agency's $102.05 million of affordable housing revenue bonds. The issue is comprised of $45.125 Series 2016H climate bond certified green bonds and $56.92 million of Series 2016I revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's.
Jefferies priced the Westchester Tobacco Asset Securitization Corp., N.Y.'s $180.99 million of taxable Series 2016A tobacco settlement senior bonds and taxable Series 2016C tobacco settlement subordinate bonds.
In the short-term sector, Morgan Stanley priced Nassau County, N.Y.'s $257.82 million of general obligation tax anticipation notes. The deal is rated SP1-plus by S&P and F1 by Fitch.
In the competitive arena, the Douglas County School District, Omaha Public, Neb., sold $141 million of Series 2016 general obligation bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.51%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AAA by S&P.
The Minneapolis Special School District No. 1, Minn., sold about $125 million of bonds backed by the state's school district credit enhancement program in three separate offerings.
Raymond James & Associates won the $56.09 million of Series 2016B general obligation long-term maintenance bonds with a TIC of 3.2056%; Raymond James also won the $45.43 million of Series 2016A GO school building bonds with a TIC of 3.0998%.Piper Jaffray won the $23.77 million of Series 2016C full term certificates of participation with a TIC of 3.0594%. All three deals are rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $648.9 million to $6.14 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $1.33 billion of competitive sales and $4.82 billion of negotiated deals.
Lipper: Muni Bond Funds Report Outflows
Municipal bond funds experienced outflows as investors continued to pull cash out of the market, according to Lipper data released late Thursday.
The weekly reporters saw $1.990 billion of outflows in the week ended Dec. 14, after outflows of $2.214 billion in the previous week.
The four-week moving average remained in the red at negative $2.129 billion after being negative $2.385 million in the previous week. A moving average is an analytical tool used to smooth out price changes by filtering out fluctuations.
Long-term muni bond funds had outflows, losing $771.676 million in the latest week after shedding $1.208 billion in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had outflows of $798.693 million on top of outflows of $690.530 million in the prior week.
National funds had outflows of $1.414 billion after outflows of $1.750 billion in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported outflows of $147.676 million in the latest reporting week, after outflows of $775.563 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw outflows of $154.871 million, after outflows of $127.509 million in the previous week.
